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Banks and federally chartered trust and loan companies are required to transfer to the Bank of Canada all unclaimed bank balances maintained in Canada in Canadian currency that have been inactive for a period of 10 years.

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Governor Stephen S. Poloz, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau and Minister of Status of Women Patty Hajdu will reveal which iconic Canadian woman will be featured on the next regularly circulating bank note. (9:00 (ET) approx.).

Counterfeit Prevention

Checking - Preventing - Reporting

The Bank of Canada takes counterfeiting very seriously and responds by:

researching and developing new notes with innovative security features that are both easy to check and hard to counterfeit

working with police agencies and prosecutors to monitor and respond to counterfeiting activity

teaching Canadians - especially those who handle cash on the job - how to quickly check their bank notes

providing Canadians with quality notes, and a secure form of payment that they can use with confidence

Expect the Check!

Checking bank notes protects everyone, so don’t be offended if a cashier carefully examines your bills. Routinely checking the security features of all notes - large and small - allows cashiers to intercept counterfeits and keep them out of the till and out of your change.

Know Your Notes

Security features are helpful only if you use them. To fight counterfeiting, the Bank offers free training materials to help the public, businesses, and police agencies use the security features in genuine bank notes. If you know your notes, you’ll be able to detect a counterfeit at a glance and protect yourself from fraud.

Dealing with Suspicious Money

Making or passing counterfeit notes is a criminal offence and should be reported.

What to do if you suspect that you have been offered a counterfeit note during a transaction:

Assess the situation to ensure that you are not at risk. Then do the following:

Politely refuse the note and explain that you suspect that it may be counterfeit.

Ask for another note (and check it too).

Advise the person to check the note with the local police.

Inform your local police of a possible attempt to pass suspected counterfeit money.

Be courteous. Remember that the person in possession of the bill could be an innocent victim who does not realize that the note is suspicious.

What to do if you suspect that a note is counterfeit after a transaction:

Give it to the local police. If it’s real, you’ll get it back.

Either way, the police should be informed of possible counterfeiting activity in your community. Timely reporting helps police and prosecutors bring counterfeiters to justice.

Impact of Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting Statistics

U.S. Bank Notes

Learn how to verify them.
All suspected counterfeit U.S. bank notes must be turned over to local police. Find out about the security features in U.S. notes and access training and educational materials.